Psychology of loving thy neighbor

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In many instances the magic of Aleister Crowley was the ultimate use of psychology. Although rejecting Christianity as a whole, he did not dismiss the Christian concept to love thy neighbor. According to Crowley Christianity misused the concept by imposing a moral interpretation upon it. In truth it was a paradox illustrating the energies of the mind. By emitting a calm, impersonal love, evil contents directed toward one would inevitable recoil and destroy one’s enemy.

This bit of reversed psychology did not work with all of his students, for example the Earl of Tankerville, but it illustrates his astuteness. It demonstrates his magic was not based on shrewdness but mental agility. Again, this goes to his theory of evocation as he argued spirits and demons evoked by the Magician are simply parts of the brain. Evocation is therefore simply a matter of stimulating chosen brain cells. A.G.H.

Sources:

Suster, Gerald. The Legacy of the Beast: The Life, Work and Influence of Aleister Crowley. York Beach, ME. Samuel Weiser. 1989. p. 180
Sutin, Lawrence. Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley. New York. St. Martin’s Griffin. 2000. p.122